August 13, 2022 4:36 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema received a $1 million surge of campaign cash over the past year from private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists whose interests she has staunchly defended in Congress. That’s according to an Associated Press review of campaign finance disclosures. The revelation comes after the Arizona Democrat single-handedly thwarted her party’s long-standing goal of raising taxes on such investors. Sinema says the contributions did not influence her thinking on the matter. But many in her party see Sinema’s defense of the favorable tax treatment received by such investors as indefensible.
August 13, 2022 4:34 am
BANGKOK (AP) — The Chinese air force is sending fighter jets and bombers to Thailand for a joint exercise with the Thai military on Sunday. The Chinese Defense Ministry said the training will include air support, strikes on ground targets and small- and large-scale troop deployment. China’s expanding military activities in the Asia-Pacific region have alarmed the United States and its allies and form part of a growing strategic and economic competition that has inflamed tensions between the world’s two largest economies. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Thailand in June as part of an effort to strengthen what he called America’s “unparalleled network of alliances and partnerships” in the region.
August 13, 2022 4:34 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines in areas its forces have occupied since invading the country 5 1/2 months ago. In an interview with The Associated Press, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities repeatedly have blocked efforts to provide state-subsidized drugs to people in occupied cities, towns and villages. The World Health Organization says it recorded 445 attacks on Ukrainian hospitals and other health care facilities as of Aug. 11 that directly resulted in 86 deaths and 105 injuries. But Liashko said the much higher number of casualties caused by damaged roads and bridges delaying ambulances “cannot be calculated.”
August 13, 2022 4:33 am
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (AP) — Salman Rushdie’s agent says the writer is on a ventilator after being stabbed in the neck and abdomen on a western New York stage where he was about to give a lecture. The 75-year-old Rushdie was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery after Friday’s stabbing at the Chautauqua Institution. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer had a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye he was likely to lose. Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses” drew death threats from Iran’s leader in the 1980s, Police arrested the man who attacked the writer and identified him as 24-year-old Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey. Matar’s lawyer declined to comment.
August 13, 2022 4:20 am
ERIE, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman is acknowledging he is lucky to be alive as he officially returns to the campaign trail. He’s been sidelined for more than 90 days after suffering a stroke that threatened the Democrat’s life and political strength in one of the nation’s premier Senate contests. Fetterman spoke Friday for nearly 11 minutes, haltingly at times, as he addressed several hundred voters packed inside an Erie convention center. The 52-year-old lieutenant governor says: “Tonight for me, it’s about being grateful — just grateful. Three months ago my life could have ended.” Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz has railed against Fetterman’s prolonged absence throughout the summer.
August 13, 2022 1:55 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — Over the next week, farmers, vendors and patrons will make their way to Arden for the next Washington County Fair, which has been a staple of the community since 1798. The eight-day event kicks off Saturday with exhibits for farming, arts and sciences, and homemaking subjects. 4-H clubs will be on hand with other activities and rides. Officials say the county fair usually draws crowds of over 50,000 throughout the event. The fair itself is not the only event that happens on the grounds during the year, as the exhibit halls and barns are rented to generate money for improvements and to make ends meet to hold the fair each year. The fair opens Saturday at 9:00 AM. A full schedule of fair activities can be found at the new fair website.
August 12, 2022 3:47 pm
Multiple news reports say the FBI has recovered several documents that were labeled “top secret” from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Meanwhile on Friday afternoon, a federal judge was weighing whether to unseal the warrant that authorized the unprecedented search this week. Attorney General Merrick Garland declared a day earlier that there is “substantial public interest in this matter,” and Trump backed the warrant’s “immediate” release. Trump has been provided at least some of the records the government is seeking to unseal, but he and his lawyers have declined, so far, to make them public.
August 12, 2022 1:16 pm
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (AP) – Author Salman Rushdie has been attacked and apparently stabbed in the neck as he was about to give a lecture in western New York. An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage Friday at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced. The author was taken or fell to the floor, and the man was restrained. Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses” has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous. A year later, Iran’s late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death. A more than $3 million bounty has been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie.
August 12, 2022 4:26 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A spokesperson for Anne Heche says the actor is on life support after suffering a brain injury in a fiery crash a week ago and isn’t expected to survive. The statement released on behalf of her family said she is being kept on life support to determine if she is a viable organ donor. Earlier Thursday, police said they are investigating Heche for driving under the influence of drugs. Heche crashed her car into a Los Angeles area house on Aug. 5. A police spokesman said Thursday that detectives with a search warrant took a blood sample from Heche, and it showed narcotics in her system. A spokeswoman for Heche declined comment on the investigation.
August 12, 2022 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A flagship Democratic economic bill is perched on the edge of House passage. Friday’s expected vote would mark final congressional approval. That would hand President Joe Biden a back-from-the-dead triumph on his climate, health care and tax goals. Democrats hope that will energize voters ahead of November’s congressional elections. Republicans are solidly opposed, but the same was true last Sunday when Democrats used Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote to power the measure through the 50-50 Senate. The package is much smaller than Biden’s original environment and social program. But it still gives Democrats bragging rights to addressing long-term party goals.
